Bye-Bye
by Nigelcat1
Summary: After the death of his godfather Harry has had enough of the Magical World. He finds a way of escaping and takes it but complications occur so now he has some rescuing to do - without getting caught!
1. Chapter 1 - Outta Here

J K Rowling owns all the rights to the books and the amazing characters she created. I write only to satisfy my imagination and use my creativity and make no money from my writings.

NOTE: I started writing this story in 2012 and considering Peeves' problems (he had three viruses and got attacked by Windows 10, which I didn't want but got) I decided to post a few more unfinished or nearly finished stories.

Chapter 1 – Outta Here

"Is Harry Potter ready to leave?" asked Dobby, the house elf which Harry had recently bonded with.

Harry Potter looked up from the floor of his miserable room or as it was still known "Dudley's second bedroom" where his uncle had dropped him after giving him the usual "welcome home beating."

Said beating had been worse than usual as when his uncle had picked Harry up at King's Cross Station after his fifth year at Hogwarts, certain members of the Order of the Phoenix had taken the liberty of having "a talk" with his relatives about what was to be Harry's treatment this summer.

They had also mentioned the death of Harry's godfather, known to the Dursleys as a mass murderer and the only thing which had lessened the beatings given to Harry for the past two years (lessened but not completely stopped).

Harry always had a bad enough homecoming due to the fact that his relatives hated him and magic with a passion. It was bad enough they had to take him back for several weeks during the summer holidays and the only pleasure they received for their trouble (other than the generous stipend they had been receiving every month for the boy's upbringing which Harry wasn't supposed to know about) was getting to refresh his memory of all that he owed them for their charity in taking him in and raising the ungrateful, miserable, worthless, demon-spawned freak which he was and "putting him in his proper place."

He never did nor could do "enough" to earn his keep, despite the multitude of chores he had to perform to earn the miserable scraps of food he was given and in reality, he wasn't even worthy of getting those because he was an abomination and a filthy stain upon the lives of the decent, hardworking, normal people which his relatives were.

The fact that those other freaks had DARED TO EVEN TALK TO THE DURSLEYS (and in public no less) was unforgiveable and then to TELL THE DURSLEYS HOW THEY WERE SUPPOSED TO TREAT THE FREAKISH BASTARD was definitely not to be tolerated. The only good thing was learning that the freaky, murdering freak godfather was dead so that they could get back to giving the lessons that the mutant bastard truly deserved.

Vernon had looked forward to doing that and it had taken all of his self-restraint to drive home, force the boy into the house, shut the door before punching the child in the stomach several times before dragging him by his hair up the stairs to the room fit for decent people which they had been forced to give him, getting him in the room and finally beating the stuffing out of the beast.

Vernon had done a lot of damage but not enough to satisfy him as he had only stopped because he was exhausted. Well he'd could continue after he had rested and gather together a few "tools" then he and Dudley could have a father-son moment and tear into the freak to finish today's lesson.

So there was Harry now laying in a pool of his own blood and trying not to let the pain of the newly broken bones he was feeling get the better of him. He had heard Dobby pop into the room shortly after he heard Vernon locking the many locks on his bedroom door and bellowing for Dudley to bring in the freak's trunk from the car so it could be locked up.

"And when that rutty owl shows up, we'll catch it and we'll kill it, cook it and feed it to the *#*#& **#^^^ as the only food we'll be giving the freak the entire summer," Vernon had shouted out loud enough for Harry to hear as he made his way down the stairs.

Gathering what energy he had Harry said to the very upset elf (who had been ordered not to interfere – no matter what - until after Harry had been locked in his room), "First I need you to take several pictures of me for evidence, then we can leave."

So Dobby took the pictures, placed a few spells on the bedroom, then gathered Harry into his small elfin arms and apparated him directly to Gringotts. All of this had been planned in the last few days after the "talk" Harry had had in Dumbledore's office within the hour of not only the death of Harry's godfather and only hope for a family, but after the life and death struggle with Death Eaters he and five friends had at the Ministry of Magic only to see Sirius die, and then shortly thereafter being possessed by Voldemort.

Harry had trashed the callous Headmaster's office and barely listened to the old wizard telling him about how only he, a 15-year boy, could defeat the darkest wizard of the last century.

Oh sure, a boy who grew up abused, denied knowledge of the world which was rightfully his, had been further abused, slandered and usually made an outcast at his school for the past five years then forced back into the hell on earth which made up his life with his relatives, had been given "tests" during those five years, denied more life-saving, important information, not given sufficient or decent training which he needed just to graduate let alone face this dark wizard but….but….

Oh hell, Harry was screwed in ways he just couldn't imagine and things were only going to get worse as he knew, HE JUST KNEW MORE THAN ANYTHING ELSE IN HIS SHORT LIFE, that Dumbledore was NOT going to give him any help or training to "fulfill his destiny" or whatever crap he had been rambling on about while Harry destroyed his office.

As soon as he had left the office, Harry went straight to the Room of Requirement. It never occurred to him to go to the infirmary where his friends were being treated for the injuries received at the Ministry. Why should he? Every year it was the same damn thing. Harry got hurt and before any treatment could be given to him (if any) he was questioned by Dumbledore, unless he was unconscious and couldn't be awaken like it had been in first year.

Even after the shock and horror of the tournament resulting in Cedric's death, Voldemort's resurrection and being dragged off by Barty the Death Eater instead of the infirmary, giving Harry any type of treatment wouldn't happen until AFTER DUMBLEDORE WAS FINISHED WITH HIM.

Harry wondered if after Voldemort killed him – and he would as there was no way Harry could Voldie unless he made him laugh himself to death watching Harry try to stupefy him to death (can't kill anybody, can't use any dark spells because Dumbledore doesn't approve and won't let you learn them let alone use them).

Well after he was killed would they just leave his dead body lying around while Dumbledore "took care of things" and did whatever it was he wanted to do first. Probably. Would the birds and other carrion have eaten most of him before someone noticed a bad smell and remembered "oh yes, gotta bury Harry before the Board of Health gives us a citation."

Harry had summoned Dobby, gave the elf a brief summary of what had happened and asked if he would help Harry escape. Dobby had jumped at the chance as long as Harry Potter made him his bonded elf. Even though Harry pictured Hermione opening her big mouth to chastise him for even thinking about doing such a horrible thing, he pushed the rest of the thought out of his mind before imaginary Hermione could utter a word, Dobby became his elf.

The first thing Harry had Dobby do was to go to Gringotts to arrange an appointment. Harry had heard the Gringotts never really closed so Dobby went immediately. "If you can get me one tonight that will be great," Harry had said.

Harry had went straight to his house and dorm room instead of the infirmary as, well his friends were being treated, he didn't want to face them or see the state they were in and Harry was used to putting up with pain. Besides, no one would probably notice he wasn't there anyway. He was right, no one did.

By the time Harry had arrived at his dorm room, Dobby had popped in and said they could have an appointment within five minutes. Harry only took the time to use the loo and off they went. The rest was history or at least would be.

Within an hour Harry found out more about his life and the way the Magical World worked than he had in the past five years at school. It seems he had more vaults than just his trust vault. His parent's Will had been sealed by one Albus Dumbledore and under law could not be opened until Harry's 25th birthday or HIS DEATH, whichever came first.

Sirius' death had already been recorded at Gringotts and surprise, surprise Fawkes the Phoenix had brought a letter to the Goblins just moments before Dobby had arrived. Dumbledore reiterated that Sirius Black had died that night and as Dumbledore knew Harry Potter was Sirius' heir, Dumbledore would be taking charge of the matter.

Apparently Dumbledore had been handling all of Harry's legal matters as he, as Headmaster of Hogwarts and Head of the Wizengamot, had been appointed (by himself) as Harry's Magical Guardian within HOURS of the death of Harry's parents. This was highly unusual to begin with and then Dumbledore, in his capacity of Wizengamot Head, had sealed his parents' Will.

Sirius' Will was not being sealed and would be read within the next two weeks whenever it was most convenient for Dumbledore. _"I will, of course, once again be acting on Harry Potter's behalf as not only is he a minor but is in deep mourning for his beloved godfather. Also, since the Minister of Magic has seen proof with his own eyes that Voldemort is indeed alive, Harry will be under careful guard to protect him from Death Eaters."_ the letter had said.

The letter went on to ORDER THE GOBLINS that under no circumstances should Harry Potter be even notified about the Will as the poor boy couldn't cope with the stress such a revelation would cause. Of course, as per the law, Dumbledore would inform the boy himself and forbid him from attending, and naturally Dumbledore would act as his proxy.

"Is this legal?" Harry asked.

"Yes and No," said Blood Claw, the Goblin Harry was speaking to. "Yes IF ALBUS DUMBLEDORE WAS LEGALLY APPOINTED IN A WILL AS YOUR MAGICAL GUARDIAN. However, since there is a Will – which he witnessed by the way – and it has been sealed, he appointed himself your guardian via his power as Head of the Wizengamot and Headmaster of Hogwarts."

"The reason it is not legal is because for it to be so, the Will would have to be unsealed and/or considering the "situation" as he called it under which he appointed himself your guardian, the guardianship would have to be approved by two-thirds of the Wizengamot. It was not."

This had also prevented Dumbledore from accessing the other Potter vaults. The only one he could access was Harry's trust vault as it provided for not only Harry's schooling but a stipend was paid out monthly to his _physical caretakers_. As of November 5, 1981 a monthly sum in Pounds Sterling was sent (using Fawkes to deliver it) to Vernon Dursley. Since it was sent in cash, it could not be traced _nor was it subject to the Muggle tax authorities_. This had also been approved by Dumbledore.

Once a year on July 31st, Harry's birthday, the sum of 50,000 galleons was transferred from one of the Potter vaults into Harry's trust vault to refresh the account and allow for Harry's care and maintenance.

Gringotts' records showed that Harry's entire Hogwarts tuition had been _paid in advance_ on August 1, 1980, the day after Harry's birth. However, every August 1st since 1991, the year Harry started Hogwarts, a tuition payment made out to Hogwarts had been deducted from Harry's trust vault. As both Gringotts and a Hogwarts representative (Dumbledore) were aware of the advanced tuition payment (there were receipts on file), _somebody's tuition was being paid out of Harry's trust vault ever since 1991._ Harry had an idea whose tuition was being paid but he wanted proof.

Sirius had made out a new Will just a few weeks before his death, which cancelled the new Will he had made out in November 1995. That Will had been made out, signed with a blood quill by Sirius, witnessed by Albus Dumbledore and Molly Weasley and hand-delivered to Gringotts by William Weasley where it went on file.

However, in April of 1996, Sirius Black had been apparated into Gringotts by his house elf Kreacher with a draft Will. The Will was made out officially, and Sirius signed it and added a special clause saying that this was his OFFICIAL LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT and declaring the November 1995 Will "null, void and invalid as hell" and stating that as soon as Harry Potter showed up, the Will could be read even if no one else mentioned in the Will was there.

It was also stressed that the Will COULD NOT BE SEALED BY ANYONE FOR WHATEVER REASON. Also, Albus Dumbledore was _expressly forbidden_ to attend the Will reading as were several other people mentioned in the "former, false Will made under duress" as Sirius had phrased it.

Blood Claw smiled evilly as he handed Harry the Will. Harry read the Will. Then he asked to also view the pensive memory Will which Sirius had also recorded and which would be read to all others. It said exactly what was in the official blood-signed Will but gave Sirius the opportunity to personally give a piece of his mind to those assembled for the reading. This Will could not be read unless Harry Potter was present so Dumbledore could not have access to the Will nor have it sealed.

"I thought Dumbledore said in the letter I "wasn't allow to attend the Will reading'" Harry asked.

Blood Claw smiled again. "Yes he did demand that in his very insulting letter but he will have to reconsider. Sirius Black mentioned that the Order of the Phoenix had its headquarters in one of his properties but could mention which one due to an oath and a charm which had been cast by Dumbledore."

"However, since Sirius Black died tonight – or rather last night – arrangements had been made to place all Black properties and vaults under immediate, automatic lock down. Anyone living in any Black properties will already be cast out and no one will be able to gain entrance to any of them until the new Lord Black resumes the inheritance."

Harry smiled. Kreacher must have been cast out and all of the Order.

"Just in case you are wondering," added Blood Claw, "during the formal ceremony wherein Sirius Black was made your godfather, he also made you his heir if he died without issue. He did this by a special blood adoption clause. You are therefore the new Lord Black once you put on this ring." He handed Harry the lordship ring for the House of Black.

Harry thought for a minute before asking, "If I put on the ring, will the Fidelius still be in effect?"

"No. The Family wards will be intact and you will be able to enter any of the properties and give or remove permission of access to anyone be they blood family or those who were given prior permission."

"Okay, I put on the ring, claim the lordship and I can go directly to any Black property and reset the wards."

"Yes."

"Can someone from Gringotts come with me and show me how to claim, reset them and furthermore put on a new Fidelius charm and can it be done now?"

"Yes, yes, yes and for a reasonable fee. However the Fidelius will take at least an hour to be cast, probably more depending on the Black family wards already on the house."

"Will I be able to take over, go to the property in question, reset things and leave the caster of the Fidelius at the house while I go back to Hogwarts? Someone will probably notice eventually that I am gone and I want things done as soon as possible."

"Once the ring accepts you, you can go immediately with a Goblin to show you how to reset the wards. It will take about half an hour to do this and by then we should be able to send someone to cast the Fidelius."

"That's great. No one will be able to gain entrance while I am resetting the wards?"

"Not unless you give them access."

"Okay. I claim the lordship and go to the house. Once I get there I will send Dobby back here to pick up the caster. It can be anybody EXCEPT BILL WEASLEY. I NEVER WANT A WEASLEY DOING ANYTHING FOR ME OR EVEN KNOWING ABOUT ANYTHING."

It was agreed. The ring accepted Harry as the new Lord Black, then he, another Goblin named Diamond Finder and Dobby popped over to Grimmauld Place. By the time Dobby brought the caster, all the wards had been reset and Harry had found out that Kreacher, as a Black elf, had not been cast out.

The look on the miserable old elf's face when he found out (by the magic of the ring) that Harry was the new Lord Black and HIS MASTER was priceless. It was patronus worthy.

Harry's first order was for the elf to remain in the house, not to leave for any reason, even if it caught on fire, until Harry gave him formal permission to do so, not to ever speak to anybody coming into the house in the future unless given permission by Harry and to CLEAN THE HOUSE FROM TOP TO BOTTOM UNTIL IT WAS SPOTLESS. Harry would figure out Kreacher's punishment for Sirius' death when he had time to think up something ghastly.

Dobby then took Harry back to the bank where Harry was given a special port key by the Goblins for an "emergency" and it was arranged that Harry would have an "open appointment" to come back to complete his other business. Dobby was thrilled and honored beyond all his wildest hopes and dreams because the Great Harry Potter was making him, Dobby, the unworthy house elf, the secret keeper.

"You are the only person in this world that I can truly trust," Harry told him. While at this moment it was true it also helped when he found out that a bonded house elf could not be legitimized by anyone other than his master.

There was just enough time for Dobby to sneak Harry back to his dorm room before Seamus and Dean woke up. Harry took a shower and debated whether to try to sleep or eat breakfast first then try to sleep. His growling stomach made the decision for him.

He went to the kitchen and ate a quick breakfast in silence. He decided to skip his scheduled classes since the OWLS were over and he didn't care if he got a detention or points deducted. Surprisingly he did manage to sleep and not dream about Sirius' death. What was said in the Will had given him the knowledge of whose fault the death really was.

Sirius knew he was going to die soon and had no doubt whatsoever that Harry would be made to feel guilty and blame himself for his death. A letter had been enclosed with the official Will written by Sirius to Harry which explained many things which were not to be publically known.

Right now Harry was not angry at Albus Dumbledore – he just plain HATED HIM.


	2. Chapter 2 - Wishes & Dreams

J K Rowling owns all the rights to the books and the amazing characters she created. I write only to satisfy my imagination and use my creativity and make no money from my writings.

Chapter 2 – Wishes and Dreams

Harry slept all day and might have slept longer if Dean hadn't shaken him awake around 4 p.m. "Harry, everybody's been looking for you all day, especially McGonagall*. She wants to see you right away."

A groggy Harry managed to say "Tell the old hag to f'off. I'm sleeping and she already knows why I am sleeping and need to sleep. If she has any problem with that, well tell her to sit on her wand and rotate."

Dean was shocked. Harry never used profanity other than the occasional hell or damn and here he was using language that was totally un-Harry. Harry rolled over and went back to sleep.

Dean now had a decision to make. He had done his duty and told Harry that McGonagall was looking for him. He could just go find McGonagall and report to her that he told Harry she was looking for her and he just went back to sleep. Or he could tell her he found Harry, told him she was looking for him and then tell her "and…well I beg your pardon Professor but his actual words were….and then tell her. Then, to use one of Harry's own favorite sayings, Dean would have a patronus-worthy memory of the look on her face.

Unfortunately for Dean, Colin Creevey had found Harry about ten minutes before Dean had but had not woken him. He had just run off to fetch McGonagall. Colin and McGonagall met Dean at the door and she just told him "Mr. Creevey has already told me" and walked passed him. Oh well, Dean could dream. He then chased after them because maybe Harry would actually say that to McGonagall when she woke him and he'd get an even better patronus-worthy memory.

Dean got his memory.

Unfortunately for Dean, and Gryffindor House, Harry had added an few more options for McGonagall as well as several suggestions as how Snape could spend his evenings – if he wasn't already doing such things – and exactly what Dumbledore has done and would no doubt continue doing to everybody.

Poor Colin was petrified. He had a look on his face which Dean couldn't decide meant he was going to be sick or faint. McGonagall made some soft noises while doing an imitation of a fish before catching her breathe and deducting 100 points from Gryffindor and demanding that Harry get out of bed, get dressed and come with her to the Headmaster's office.

That was when Dean and Colin found out what Harry and others had been doing last night, as Harry mentioned he was sleeping because of his godfather's death, fighting a dozen or so Death Eaters, including Lucius Malfoy and Bellatrix Lestrange, fighting yet again with Voldemort and being possessed by him and a few other odds and ends which had happened to him during the year.

"I need my f'ing sleep as with Snape raping my mind at Dumbledick's request has hurt me and ruined my sleeping patterns for the year especially with Voldie invading my mind and sleep since the RAPING left me exposed. And your great Headmaster didn't even THINK TO LET ME GO TO THE INFIRMARY LAST NIGHT. AND BESIDES, WE ALREADY HAD 'A TALK' AND I REFUSE TO LISTEN TO ANYTHING ELSE THAT OLD #*(&#& (((*& ) ! HAS TO SAY."

It was at this point that Colin slightly collapsed onto Dean, who was shaking a little himself as he caught the other boy.

Part of Dean was hoping – praying even – that McGonagall might faint. He would then be able to not only drive off a Dementor but maybe even kill one with such a memory. The only thing which could possibly be better would be if Granger was present and hearing all the cusses Harry was saying. It might strike her speechless which would definitely be a first.

Then McGonagall decided she was "….finished with your obscenities, impudence and disobedience, Mr. Potter and you will be coming with me to the Headmaster's office now." She then levitated Harry out of bed but made the mistake of dropping him in an upright position in front of her while she ordered him to put on his clothes and come with her.

However, once again Dean, and Gryffindor House, would be shocked and penalized respectively by what Harry said and did next. Poor Colin would witness it as he revived just in time to hear Harry say, "No. I am staying here."

McGonagall gave him one of her famous death glares before making the mistake of pointing her wand at him and saying, "That will be another 50 points from Gryffindor" and she then transfigured Harry's raggedy, oversize pajamas into a set of his school robes, minus his shoes. She then made a grab for Harry's arm but instead he grabbed her first with one hand to stop her and with his other hand he grabbed her wand out of her hand and much to her, Dean's and Colin's shock, horror and total disbelief (but delight as Dean would eventually tell Seamus), he broke her wand in half.

Everybody froze. Harry then said through gritted teeth, "Now get the %#^&#& ^&& out of here before I stick the pieces up your mangy, old, wrinkly arsehole."

Within three seconds, McGonagall and Dean, dragging a still slightly frozen Colin, ran for it and out of the room.

"Oh damn," said Harry, "did I just do what I think I just did?" He had still been so exhausted and grumpy from when Dean shook to wake him and just wasn't in the mood to be ranted at by McGonagall and summoned to the office of "His Most Manipulative Self-Proclaimed-Light-Lord-Who-Was-Worse-Than-Voldemort Headmaster." He hadn't been dreaming after all but had actually said all of those nasty things he always thought but was too polite, beaten down and/or afraid to really say. He was in soooo much trouble. He grabbed his trainers, wand and the port key and decided to utilize his walk-in appointment.

Meanwhile a frantic McGonagall was running out of Gryffindor House much to the surprise of those students who had returned from classes and were sitting around the common room. She was followed by Dean Thomas dragging Colin Creevey who followed her out of the door. It was then that Lee Jordan turned to Angela and Katie and asked, "Didn't know the old hag had it in her. She was outrunning Dean and Colin. Think we should be worried about what they were running away from?"

Angela replied, "Well I think she was going up to get Harry. I thought I heard some Harry-sounding yelling so maybe we should investigate." The three Gryffindors went up to Harry's room, looked around, and called out his name, checked out the bathroom then left. "False alarm" they announced when they went back to the common room, so everyone went back to their own business.

The port key took Harry directly to Blood Claw's office. He apologized for interrupting Blood Claw who was in the process of handling another client. "I'll just go wait somewhere – if you tell me where."

"You're Harry Potter," said the client Blood Claw was serving.

Harry glanced at the woman to apologize for barging in when he did a double take. The woman greatly resembled Bellatrix Lestrange. He had his wand out in an instant.

"I'm not my sister Bellatrix," she said realizing how similar she looked to her sister, the same sister who had last night killed their cousin in front of the boy. She had been alerted about Sirius' death by Blood Claw after Harry had read the Will. She was one of the beneficiaries and Harry vaguely remembered Blood Claw asking his permission to contact and explain the situation to some of those mentioned in the Will.

Remembering his manners Harry replied, "Oh you must be Andromeda Tonks, Sirius' favorite cousin and Tonks' mum. Sirius mentioned you and I noticed you name in the Will. I'm glad to meet you but just wish it was under better circumstances."

They started chatting politely until Blood Claw couldn't restrain himself any longer. "What has happened Harry Potter? You seem to be in a state of panic when you came here without your elf, so you used the emergency port key."

Well Andromeda Tonks was family now as Harry was the Lord Black and Sirius had wanted him to reinstate both her and her daughter back in the family. Harry briefly told them what happened. When he finished both witch and Goblin were silent until Andromeda burst out laughing and couldn't stop.

Finally she did before apologizing and saying, "I would donate a year of my life in a dark ritual to have seen the expression on the old biddy's face when you started…started telling her what she, Snape and Dumbles could do, and then to actually snap her wand, it must have been priceless. Could I have a pensive memory of that, please, please, please?"

"Well if I survive to give you the memory but by now Dumbles, McGonagall, Snape and everybody else are probably tearing the castle apart trying to find me. Can I hide at Grimmauld Place Blood Claw? I mean it's under the Fidelius now so they can't get to me."

"You just may have to do so considering you snapped the wand of the Deputy Headmistress," Andromeda said. "That is after all an expulsion offense."

"I never knew that," replied Harry, "but then I never knew or was told most of the things I should have known. Can they throw me in Azkaban?"

Andromeda smiled at him before explaining that she was a solicitor in both the Magical and Muggle Worlds. Blood Claw had called her in first to discuss obtaining legal representation for Harry but she had never expected anything like this. It was rather funny imaging McGonagall.

However, with Harry's permission Blood Claw started informing her of the things Harry had been put through and she read Sirius' official Will. No wonder the kid snapped. Dumbledore would not be happy that Harry had accepted the lordship, changed the Fidelius and was planning to leave Hogwarts and finish his education elsewhere whether by school or private tutors. He had made that decision just before he fell asleep.

Due to accepting the Lordship and Sirius emancipating Harry, legally Dumbledore had no control over Harry. Blood Claw had filed the Notice of Accession of Lordship with the Ministry. There was nothing they could do about it nor could Dumbledore object to it. Knowing Dumbledore he would try anyway especially since he had told Harry the prophecy.

Harry had told it to Blood Claw after getting a sacred Goblin oath and now Harry told it to Andromeda since she was to be his legal representative and Sirius had mentioned something about a prophecy in the letter he had written to Harry.

They had spent hours going over legal documents, financial reports and general things when Dobby popped in. He had been looking for Harry at the school but could not find him. Apparently _**everybody was looking for Harry.**_ The other elves didn't know that Dobby was now Harry's bonded elf and he had been commandeered into the search.

Dobby found out that "Harry Potter had gone insane because his dog father had died. Harry Potter destroyed the Headmaster's office and threatened him. Harry Potter went crazy and made terrible suggestions to Deputy Headmistress about wanting to do very naughty, very sick, unspeakable things to the poor old witch and even told her about the filthy, bad, naughty things the Bat Professor does with Harry Potter. Harry Potter has done other things today which are _'too appalling to mention'_ and Headmaster be calling in Aurors to find Harry Potter," Dobby sobbed out before breaking down completely.

As usual, things had gotten totally out of hand and the rumor mill was going wild. It would only be a matter of time until the _Daily Prophet_ joined the fray and Rita Skeeter utilized her special brand of reporting.

Harry hadn't read a copy of the _Daily Prophet_ concerning the "incident at the Ministry" as it was being called. Fudge couldn't deny that Voldemort was back now as there were too many witnesses but news had leaked out and the _Prophet_ reported it before Fudge could arrange for damage control.

Lucius Malfoy and other "notables" had been arrested and Dumbledore was demanding a trial be held for them and Veritaserum administered. Fudge would have no choice but to consent to Dumbledore's demands, but now, _**when, not if,**_ word of Harry "going crazy" got out, Lucius' legal team might have a chance, however, slight, to make a deal with Dumbledore.

"Lucius was caught dead to right with witnesses so I doubt he can wiggle out of this. Dumbledore all but admitted _**he needs you**_ so once he finds out about the lordship, he will move heaven and earth – and maybe throw in a dark rite or two – to get you back and the emancipation overturned," Andromeda told him.

"But don't worry," she quickly added, "Legally he can't do it, but he will spend a lot of time and energy trying to anyway."

She then frowned as if thinking (which she was indeed doing) before saying, "The only thing I fear is that if you completely disappear, he might make a deal with Fudge, since no doubt his denial of You Know Who's return will severely damage his career and there will be demands for his resignation and/or impeachment. Fudge will probably be desperate and join forces with Dumbledore and I wouldn't be surprised if every available Auror is sent out to look for you so that 'Dumbledore can protect you'."

"Including your daughter Tonks," added Harry.

Andromeda sighed, "Yes especially her since she is a member of Dumbledore's 'elite' Order of the Phoenix. Oh yes, I know about it as she tried to convince both her father and me to join. Naturally we adamantly refused and tried to talk her out of it but she is just too stubborn. We told her just how badly run and the excessive number of casualties of the Order during the first war as well as us not trusting Dumbledore."

"Well since I am now Lord Black," said Harry, "I am head of the family, correct?"

"Yes."

"So that means that even though Sirius reinstated both you and Tonks back into the family and left both of you money, I can withhold that money as Lord Black on condition that Tonks resigns as a member of the Order."

There was a gleam in the woman's eye when she replied, "Well since it was in his Will, she will be reinstated and the money placed in her vault to comply with Sirius' wishes. However, since you now Lord Black and the Head of the Family, you can demand that she permanently resign from the Order on pain of a new disinheritance and a call back of the money Sirius left towards her dowry."

"Good. So can I do it now?"

"Not _immediately_ as first the Will must be read, she must be advised of its contents, accepts it and as soon as she does, THEN you swoop in as Lord Black and give her the ultimatum to leave the Order or suffer immediate disownment and retraction of the money. It can be done before she leaves the Will reading."

Harry decided that would be the best course of action and this way Harry would discover just who Tonks was truly loyal to – her family, Dumbledore and/or the DMLE, as technically as an Auror, Tonks should not be a member of an unofficial organization as the Order of the Phoenix. Thus, if for some reason she chose not to leave the Order, it would be made public knowledge (Andromeda would see to that) and no doubt Tonks would be fired.

Sadly for Harry, it was decided that he would have to return to the school and leave at the end of the year. Although his Lordship and emancipation could not be overturned and had already been filed at the Ministry, there was a good possibility that it would pass unnoticed for a day or two due to the official return of Voldemort, the arrest of the prominent Purebloods, such as Lucius Malfoy, and the resulting panic and confusion the public would be going through.

Dumbledore would be getting back his seat on the Wizengamot since he had been vindicated and would be entrenching and mobilizing his political forces. If he thought that Harry remained ignorant of the Will due to Dumbledore's _instructions to the Goblins_ , he would lay off Harry and delay attempting to interfere in Harry's life. Hopefully, at least.

Harry needed time to make his "escape" from Magical Britain without Dumbledore resorting to holding him a virtual prisoner like he did last year.

Thus, a few things happened before Harry unwillingly went back to Hogwarts and was seen at breakfast the next day.

A few bribes were administered to certain Ministry personnel not to bring Harry's emancipation and Lordship to the attention of certain people. There was nothing wrong with this as it was not usual for someone attaining emancipation or regular "coming of age" was brought to the attention of most Ministry personnel unless it was under special circumstances. The clerk at the Ministry who was bribed was also threatened not to cross the Goblins in this matter and nobody in their right mind would cross a Goblin. So although everything was legally and irreversibly filed, the news was not brought to the attention of anybody – especially Fudge and Dumbledore.

Although the _Daily Prophet_ reported such news it was usually in the legal notices section and, depending on the person's social and political position, the society/gossip pages. However, although it had to be printed in the legal notices section, it had a week before it had to appear. It would not be reported until after the school term ended and Harry Potter went back home.

Harry had, of course, taken Andromeda on as his legal representative. He only vaguely touched on some of his life, just saying his time at the Dursleys could be considered child abuse and he gave a quick synopsis of his life at Hogwarts, but especially his fifth year and Umbridge's treatment of him as well as other Muggleborn students. Andromeda would be filing several lawsuits against the Dursleys, the Ministry and most especially, Albus Dumbledore.

But all of this took time and Harry would not have the time to accomplish all the things which Andromeda needed to do. Harry would have to give several depositions, probably submit pensive memories and definitely have several independent medical examinations to back up his abuse.

A quick check on his person had shown several charms had been placed on him, such as specialized loyal charms directed to an assortment of people. Also quite disturbing were the charms placed on him making him reckless, feelings of worthlessness and most disgusting, a multitude of guilt charms. He had also mentioned his "lessons" with Snape and many other unsettling things were broached.

Unfortunately, none of these could be removed as both the Goblins and Andromeda (who was a Black after all) felt these were probably traceable. So to protect Harry, an amulet was produced from one of the Black heritage vaults which would remain invisible and non-removable by anyone except Harry.

The amulet would register any new charms or, sad to say obliviations, placed on Harry. The Black Lordship ring would protect his mind from normal legitimacy being performed on him, so unless Dumbledore turned up "the power" or Voldemort attacked him, he should be safer than he normally would. Just before he had to return to Hogwarts, he was given a few quick tips from Andromeda on "thinking around things" to further protect him.

So back to Hogwarts Harry went with the prepared "excuses" for his disappearance and bad behavior.

It would only be natural for anybody who had been under the stress and experiences which Harry Potter had endured in the past two years – even the likes of Dumbledore or Voldemort when they were a 15 year old boy – to have a "breakdown" long before the one which Harry admitted to having. Anybody else would have received sympathy or at least understanding but all Harry received was detention for two weeks at the start of next year and 200 points from Gryffindor now.

Since he had just lost his House 200 points at the end of the year – besides the 50 McGonagall had taken - so any sympathy for the loss of his godfather or apologies which should have been given to him for what he had endured during the past year and the thanks for running the DA and helping students pass their Defense OWLs and NEWTs none of that mattered _because he lost his House 250 points_. It didn't matter to his housemates that the points had been taken from him by the Head of House and the Headmaster. Bitch and Bastard both of them as they were causing Harry to still suffer.

He didn't even get "congratulations" concerning his outburst at McGonagall, not even from Fred and George as he was sure that they had heard about it.

Dean, however, did manage on the sly to tell Harry he thought his behavior was "awesome" in regard to McGonagall, but that he could not say it publically or be seen as approving Harry's actions because, "You know bloody well what will happen to me if I do. As always, since you are officially 'a pariah' as usual, you must be shunned as part of the accepted rules of punishment laid down by McGonagall and Dumbledore."

Harry asked Dean to explain what he meant by the "accepted rules of punishment" as he didn't know anything about it. It was then that Harry learned about the _unofficial rules_ of Gryffindor House, at least concerning Harry Potter.

Unfortunately, Dean was under a magical oath as were all of those of Gryffindor House, and due to this oath, could only mention that there were _unofficial rules_ but he could not tell anyone outside of Gryffindor House about the rules or even talk about them. The slip about the rules was already causing Dean some pain so Harry stopped him from saying more. He would have Andromeda and the Goblins find out about them.

Of course Harry had other problems to deal with such as paying for the new wand that McGonagall had to buy and although McGonagall had retrieved Harry's broom from Umbridge's office, Harry would not be getting it back until next term or until McGonagall calmed down enough to return it to him. Of course he couldn't use it during his summer exile at Durskaban, but it was the principle of the thing as his Head of House informed him.

Dumbledore had given him the old "I-am-so-disappointed-in-you look" and to get a few digs in at Harry, told him that Sirius would be ashamed of him. Naturally nothing was mentioned about the Will and in all actuality, Sirius would have enjoyed and laughed himself silly at the thought of Harry cursing out McGonagall and breaking her wand.

The few remaining days left in the term (of which Harry also had to serve detention) were almost as horrible as the entire year had been.

The students who hadn't believed him before about Voldemort's return were panicking (as the rest of his critics were), the Slytherins – mostly Malfoy and his goons – were threatening him with the "you'll get yours" or "you are dead Potty" – nothing new or creative just said with more vitriol than usual.

Last but not least, once she got out of the infirmary, Hermione lit into Harry for not only his carelessness and inconsideration by disappearing and worrying everybody but when she heard about what he had said to McGonagall….

Harry might have survived, Voldemort, Dursleys, trolls, Voldemort, basilisks, Tom Riddle, Dementors, the Triwizard Tournament, Voldemort's resurrection, more Dementors, public ridicule and actual hate from the public, Umbridge, Death Eaters and Voldemort, but now he was seriously wondering if he would get back to the Dursleys alive with all the yelling, screaming, chastising and rebukes he was receiving from Hermione Jane Granger.**

Hermione's tongue lashings should be banned by the Geneva Convention or used by dictatorial governments and/or terrorist organizations to spread fear and terror. Voldemort should recruit her to torture people. Granted she was a "filthy Mudblood" but hey, with such talent (as well as her brains) maybe some Pureblood could adopt her and give her a total blood transfusion to "make her worthy" or something like that. Harry just might send a letter to Voldie (with a school owl, not his Hedwig) suggesting it.

The only thing that had saved him so far was she hadn't heard about his destruction of McGonagall's wand until they were on the Hogwarts Express returning to their homes.

As far as he knew, Dumbledore hadn't found out about his emancipation yet as he had been terribly busy. However, in their last interview when he had received his punishments, Dumbledore did say that Harry would not be receiving any communications from his friends and probably he would have to stay at the Dursleys the entire summer for "protection" since no doubt Voldemort would be doubling his efforts in going after Harry.

"Mrs. Weasley will be getting your supplies from Diagon Alley and someone will pick you up from your Aunt and Uncle's on September 1st to take you to the train" and then he went on further about Harry needing to not be reckless as well as "thinking before acting" and learning lessons. Just to be thorough, Dumbles threw in a few digs about Sirius' death being Harry's fault because Harry refused to learn Occlumency.

Harry had not managed to think about certain things until after he was dismissed from the Headmaster's office. "Yeah," he thought when he was alone, "like I could not be reckless with who knows how many charms, hexes and whatever placed on me."

The Order members "talking with Vernon" had been the icing on the cake and Harry knew he was doomed. Hopefully he would survive the beating he would be getting once in the confines of the Dursley house of horrors. He needed the photographs for his case and he had actually had worse beatings during his life.

But the beating was over, Dobby had come, taken the photographs and whisked him away to start his "new life" hopefully free of Dursleys, Dumbledores, cruel, useless, uncaring and menacing Hogwarts professors, Weasleys, Fudges, Umbridge, Death Eaters, Malfoys, Slytherins, Rita Skeeter and IRATE HERMIONE GRANGERS.

*In this story McGonagall was only hit with one stunner and therefore not injured too badly, hence her being at Hogwarts to "find Harry" and drag him to Dumbledore.

**JK started out with Hermione's name being Hermione JANE Granger so I will always call her by that name.


	3. Chapter 3 - Bones, Fudge, Lawyers &

J K Rowling owns all the rights to the books and the amazing characters she created. I write only to satisfy my imagination and use my creativity and make no money from my writings.

Chapter 3 – Bones, Fudge, Healers, Lawyers & Other Creatures

The Will had been scheduled to be read exactly one week after Harry's return to the Dursleys. It had taken that long for Harry's new wounds to be healed by a healer from St. Mungo's and all of his other injuries to be documented before they too could be healed. After the documentation, he immediately left for an undisclosed location to "recover" from his wounds, abuse and to generally hide out.

Amelia Bones had been apprised by Andromeda of the "Harry Potter Situation" and asked to come to Gringotts and to bring Fudge with her at 6 p.m. on the day that Hogwarts closed for the holiday. This would allow Harry to go home and escape his relatives and for both Bones and Fudge to witness Harry's being diagnosed and treated by the Chief Healer of St. Mungo's. Bones was also to bring an official Ministry healer to give a second opinion of Harry's general state of health as well as the Head of Magical Children Services.

Everything would be brought to the attention of the government and once it was drummed into Fudge's head of Harry's real condition, Andromeda would then drop the proverbial bomb on the Minister's lap and inform him of Umbridge's treatment of not only Harry but other students, as well as listing her other illegal practices during her reign of terror at Hogwarts while acting under the _orders of Cornelius Fudge_.

Hidden in the background of all of this was the presence of two reporters – Will Winston of the _Daily Prophet_ and Xeno Lovegood of the _Quibbler_ who would be witnesses to Fudge's reaction as well as being the official newsmen approved by Harry's solicitor who would be reporting the _**truth**_ to the Wizarding public.

Fudge was still desperately trying to hold onto his power and was making deals right and left. Once again Lucius Malfoy and the others were pleading the Imperius defense and were almost getting away with it until Dumbledore started meddling.

Although Fudge desperately needed the money Lucius usually "contributed" to him (and the huge amount Narcissa Malfoy was now promising him if Lucius was freed), Dumbledore was playing his "I-told-you-I-was-right" card and using his political clout and his minions (the Order of the Phoenix members) to keep Lucius and the others in Azkaban.

Poor Fudge. Somehow Lucius had to be set free even though he was caught dead-to-right (so Fudge could get some badly needed money), while Dumbledore had to be appeased (he had _**hinted**_ he would help Fudge stay Minister if he went along with his plans) and the public now knew for certain that You-Know-Who was really back.

Fudge needed to convince the public that he had been advised badly by trusted allies that Dumbledore (who everybody knew was after Fudge's job) had arranged for the entire fiasco concerning the Triwizard Tournament and even the death of poor Cedric Diggory in order to overthrow the government so that Dumbledore could replace all Ministry employees with Dumbledore's specially chosen Muggleborns and finally and entirely crush and destroy Wizarding culture in Britain. Hence Fudge's valiant fight and exposure of Dumbledore's manipulations throughout the year. That was going to be Fudge's official explanation.

So far it had been working at least until that damnable night when too many witnesses saw the Dark Lord himself at the Ministry. Lucius and several of Fudge's other (financial) supporters were also caught. They were again proclaiming the Imperious but others were insisting Veritaserum be administered, which Fudge knew would more than likely condemn instead of vindicating Lucius and the others.

It looked as if Dumbledore would triumph this time and since he had only _**hinted**_ of "allowing" Cornelius to stay in office, Fudge could still pacify Dumbledore until Lucius, et al. were in Azkaban and THEN arrange for Fudge to be kicked out of office and replaced by a Dumbledore lackey or even the wily old wizard himself.

It wasn't until Amelia Bones had notified Fudge that he had been summoned by the Goblins AND HARRY POTTER'S LEGAL REPRESENTATIVE, that Fudge remember just how much he had slandered the Boy-Who-Lived, who he had named the Boy-Who-Lied and was now being called the Boy-Who-Was-Being-Hailed-as-the-Chosen-One-and/or-the- Savior.

Fudge just couldn't deal with anybody with either multiple or multi-hyphenated names at the moment, but it seemed he had no choice especially when Bones had mentioned the "L word" (for lawsuit).

So Fudge had been dragged off despite all of his best efforts to wimp out of going, but the Goblins had INSISTED, so if he didn't want his account closed with the only Wizarding bank in Magical Britain, he had to go and probably listen to the irritating boy whine.

But then Fudge saw the condition Harry Potter was currently in and then noticed the Chief Healer of St. Mungo's, the official Ministry Healer, the Head of Magical Children Services, some very angry Goblins (which included Ragnok the Chief Goblin) and the livid Andromeda Black Tonks, solicitor from Hell.

Things just kept going downhill for poor Cornelius Fudge after that.

Dumbledore was greatly annoyed. Despite his constant pressure, Cornelius was still vacillating regarding sending Malfoy and his cronies to Azkaban. All of them were still in Ministry holding cells despite Dumbledore's specific orders to Fudge to incarcerate them in Azkaban. Therefore, just as soon as he attended the reading of Sirius Black's Will, he would be visiting the wayward Minister and setting him straight.

That was another thing which was annoying the Headmaster. He had informed the Goblins that, as always, he would be handling all matters pertaining to Harry Potter. He had told the Goblins that Potter was not to be notified about the Will despite what Black had told the Goblins. As Harry Potter would NOT be attending the reading, why tell the boy anything at all.

Dumbledore had also wanted the Will to be read the day after school ended for the year. Again, the Goblins had ignored him. In fact, he had heard nothing about the Will reading until Remus Lupin had mentioned that he had been notified that the reading of the Will would be taking place exactly one week after school ended. Dumbledore had been more than furious, but no matter, he would just show up for the reading at the appointed time and take control of things then.

And that was exactly what he had tried to do. He showed up for the reading and was informed that as he was not a beneficiary of the Will, he was not allowed to be admitted to the reading.

"That is quite ridiculous," he had snapped at the Goblin. "I witnessed the Will and I know that I am a beneficiary, not only in my capacity as the Magical Guardian of the minor Harry Potter, but as a recipient of funds for myself and the Order of the Phoenix. Therefore, I WILL BE ATTENDING THE READING."

And that was when Dumbledore found out in no uncertain terms, that HE WOULD NOT be attending the reading when a troop of Goblins actually evicted him as well as Molly, Ron, and Ginerva Weasley from the bank. There they all were, standing in front of the bank (after they had picked themselves off of the ground where the Goblins had thrown them) waiting for those who had been allowed in the reading to come out and tell Dumbledore what had occurred.

After an hour or so, Remus Lupin had been the first one to emerge from Gringotts. Albus started walking over to him and had even opened his mouth to demand to know what had occurred when Lupin held up his hand and said, "I am under oath not to reveal anything about the reading unless given specific permission by the new Lord Black. I AM UNDER OATH." With that said he immediately apparated away.

The next people to exit the bank were Narcissa and Draco Malfoy. Both saw Dumbledore at the same time, gave him a rather nasty glare before they too port keyed away.

"Humff," snapped Molly Weasley. "Since they are looking even snootier and nastier than usual, I gather they just found out that they didn't get a knut from Sirius let alone the Black Lordship."

She started laughing rather loudly and was joined by her son and daughter. Molly knew (or thought she knew) what was in Sirius' Will, as she had been there when Dumbledore had compelled Sirius into signing the Will which he had personally written and force Sirius sign.

Yes, she knew that she and Arthur would be getting 1,000,000 galleons from a grateful Sirius Black because they had been so good to Harry and Sirius knew they would continue to look after his godson. She also knew that Sirius had arranged for an unbreakable marriage contract between Harry and Ginny as there was no way that his beloved godson could do better than marrying the beautiful, intelligent, powerful witch which was Ginny Weasley.

Ron would be getting 50,000 galleons for being the wonderful, loyal, supportive "best mate" to Harry which Ron should use to buy the best broom made as well as all the other things he truly deserved. Hermione Granger would be getting all the books from the Black library which were not dark and would receive them after Albus Dumbledore had looked them over and approved which ones would be suitable for a young light witch to read.

For appearances sake, Lupin would be getting 25,000 galleons and even Auror Tonks would receive a token 10,000 since she was a relative. Grimmauld Place would be left to Dumbledore for use as headquarters as well as 1,000,000 galleons for the Order to use to defeat Voldemort.

The rest would go to Harry and he would be proclaimed Lord Black. However, he would NOT RECEIVE ANY MONEY until he became of age and he could not use the vote of the House of Black until he was 25 years old. Until then, as had been the case for the past 15 years, Albus Dumbledore would be the proxy for the Black Wizengamot seat.

Nothing could go wrong as Albus had seen to everything. Since he had been reinstated into all of his powerful political positions, the Goblins would suffer for these insults, of that Molly Weasley was certain. She would bet the lives of all her children that Dumbledore would prevail and nothing would stop him and his plans for the Greater Good.

She didn't know it then, but _she was betting the lives of all her children_ , but not in the way that she thought.

The first thing which happened concerning the Weasleys was that Bill Weasley had been discharged from his employment with the Goblins. Normally the Goblins would not have given a reason for his discharge, but in this circumstance, an exception had been made.

Only exceptional wizards or witches were employed by the Goblins. The pay was excellent as were the benefits. Bill Weasley had been hired directly out of Hogwarts due to his talents and outstanding recommendations from his teachers at Hogwarts and his father's contacts in the Ministry. Bill had also passed the rigorous exams the Goblins had given him.

The Goblins would train him in curse breaking and warding. He would be serving in an apprenticeship position for the three years his training would take place and basically working for a pittance, although room and board were provided. Most of it was on-the-job-training but after he was certified, Bill Weasley would receive a Mastery not only in curse breaking and in warding but his Masteries would be _internationally_ accredited, which was a much better scholastic achievement than just receiving a British Mastery. After the three years, he would get a large increase in salary and would be eligible for a transfer. However, he would owe allegiance and service to the Goblins for seven years before he was free to leave and work elsewhere.

Standards in Magical Britain had seriously deteriorated in the last few decades. This was due not only to the Ministry of Magic's paranoia and choke hold on the magical population but mostly because of the drop in excellence of a Hogwarts education, most notably since Albus Dumbledore became Headmaster.

Bill wasn't fired until the morning of the Will reading, when he was called into Ragnok's office. No human was allowed anywhere near that office unless personally summoned by the Chief Goblin in Britain. At first he thought he was getting praise and/or a promotion as he knew he hadn't done anything wrong, so he wasn't at all nervous. Was he in for a shock!

Two armed guards escorted him into the office and by the look on Ragnok's face it would not be a pleasant meeting. One of the guards pushed him into a kneeling position and forced him to bow his head.

Ragnok left him in that position for a moment but it seemed longer to Bill. Finally Ragnok snarled out that he was being discharged from Gringotts, all of the tools used in curse-breaking, warding, etc. would be returned to the Goblins and he would not leave the bank until an hour after the Black Will was read. Then Ragnok threw a scroll at him saying that the reasons for his release from employment were on the scroll which he should read while waiting until he could leave.

He was then lifted up by the two guards and dragged out of Ragnok's office but the Goblin did yell out "Remember you still have three years owed to us and you know the consequences of breaking your contract."

Bill did. Since he had three years left, he could not do any work in his field for those three years without being harshly penalized – by the Goblins. His vault was closed and he received the small amount that it contained. He might have to ask Fred and George for a job in their joke shop as most of his useable skills were tied to the Goblins. But the thing he feared most was Dumbledore.

When he could leave, he apparated to his flat and started packing up his belongings as the rent was soon due and he would not have the money to live on his own anymore. As usual, his mother had hit him up for any money he could spare to use for tuition for Ginny and Ron plus their school supplies. Also both of them needed a better broom since they were on the Quidditch team. He was almost cleaned out and since the Goblins paid by the month he really needed his paycheck. Now, he would only receive payment for the days he had worked in July IF the Goblins didn't fine him, which they usually did when someone was fired.

He had no place to go except to his parents. He was then going to ask his mother why she needed money for tuition when, as stated in his discharge letter, ever since Harry Potter came to Hogwarts and befriended the Weasleys, the tuitions of the Twins, Ron and Ginny were paid out of Harry's trust vault (Percy's tuition was paid by Aunt Muriel). It was a fight in the making and he knew his mother would deny it, start to cry, call him an ungrateful and wicked son, and ask if he was turning Dark and whatever else came into her head. Besides she had probably already spent it.

Bill had exactly G5, S9 and K14 to his name. He knew without a doubt that Dumbledore would offer him a job which the Order would pay for BUT the things that Dumbledore wanted him to do was what he had done for the Goblins. A little thing like the consequences of doing such work would be pooh-poohed by Dumbledore who would swear he could do his work without the Goblins knowing, etc. However, Bill knew he couldn't as he was under oaths, but he also knew he would be nagged to death by his mother and Dumbledore but HE would pay the consequences, not them.

Should he really go back to the Borrow? Maybe he could stay with a friend but then remembered that he had lost contact with most of his friends from Hogwarts, especially the Muggleborns who had left the Magical World when they couldn't get employment. He didn't know where most of them were.

Yes, William Arthur Weasley had very difficult decisions to make and little time to make them.


	4. Chapter 4 - Where's Harry

J K Rowling owns all the rights to the books and the amazing characters she created. I write only to satisfy my imagination and use my creativity and make no money from my writings.

Chapter 4 – Where's Harry

It was Harry Potter's 16th birthday. Even his own mother wouldn't recognize him. He had spent several weeks undergoing substantial medical treatment correcting the abuse from his time with the Dursleys as well as the "accidents" he had had at Hogwarts. He managed to have his eyes corrected so did not now need glasses.

The presence of some very illegally, extremely strong potions had been found in his bloodstream. They all had to be flushed out of his system before he could have things done like getting Skel-grow to fix his bones. Most of them had to be banished and regrown, a very long and extremely painful process.

That was why everything had taken so long to correct. He still needed to take nutritional potions for at least a year. Then there were also some things which could never be cured.

All those blows to the head courtesy of his aunt with her cast iron frying pan would have killed a normal child or severely brain damaged one. That was her way of physically hurting Harry (besides starving him) yet getting to say "I never laid _a hand_ on him" as she had hit him with the pan. But they had done some very bad damage to his brain.

He had problems with his balance, there had been some eye damage which fortunately could be eventually corrected, he had suffered temporary memory loss when being initially hit and injured. Only his magic had saved him, but even with the potions and magical treatment he was finally receiving, he would never be whole or realize the potential he had been born with.

The famous "blood wards due to Lily's sacrifice" were a myth. Oh there were blood wards on the Dursley house all right, but they were powered not by any sacrifice on Lily's part. No, they were actually dark spells (because blood magic was considered very dark thanks to Dumbledore), tied to Harry's magic. Harry's magic hid and protected him from discovery based on his blood and Dumbledore adding many of his own spells.

The spells were very draining on the child's magic. Harry's magic powered the spells leaving him with just enough magic to survive most of the abuse he received at the hands of the Dursleys.

There had been times in his life when he had almost died due to Vernon being a little too enthusiastic in his "punishments" or Petunia mishandling him as a baby then one very bad head whack that cracked Harry's skull. If Dumbledore's monitors hadn't alerted him when they did, the boy wouldn't have lasted the night.

After too many close calls, the Dursleys were ordered to refrain from doing all of the things they really wanted to do to the boy because if the child died or was too damage to function, they would not be receiving the very generous monthly payment for the boy's "care, upkeep and special training" as per Dumbledore's instructions. He had also warned, "If the child dies or is too damaged to fulfill his destiny, then I will have no choice but to turn you over to the authorities – of both worlds."

So the Dursleys had to calm down a bit until the child grew older. They merely starved him, overloaded him with chores and let Dudley invent "Harry Hunting" with his friends. But the closer Harry got to Hogwarts age, the more the abuse was allowed to return. His magic was still draining, but now that he was a bit stronger (or at least stronger than he had been as a child in the 18 month – 6 years age bracket) he could be "disciplined" more severely.

But the Dursleys were going to pay. The cost of his medical treatment were going to be paid for by the Dursleys, Snape (who apparently brewed all those potions) and Dumbledore, who had allowed and ordered the abuse caused by the Dursleys and who probably ordered Snape to brew the potions used on the boy. The Goblins had everything detailed down to the last boo-boo and potion.

Harry wasn't going back to Hogwarts. He had been declared an adult to be able to participate in the Tournament as well as being emancipated by the terms of Sirius' Will. He had taken his OWLS and that was all you had to pass to be able to leave Hogwarts. He was free.

Oh Dumbledore was going to be furious at that. No doubt he would be trying to rush through a bill in the Wizengamot making it mandatory for Harry to attend until after he took his NEWTS, but Harry was going to ignore it. Harry didn't have to take his NEWTS as he wasn't going to get a job in the Magical World. Nope, he was leaving it.

Oh he had every intention to practice magic, as he was a wizard after all. He just didn't have to get a job due to his inheritances – the knowledge of which Dumbledore had been keeping from him. Dumbledore had finally noticed he was missing about two weeks after he had left.

He had been staying at a very exclusive, private clinic which catered to both Muggles and Magicals. One side was for Muggles, the other side was for Magicals. At times they interchanged such as when a Muggle would pay a huge amount of money for a "special treatment" which was in reality a potion.

Magicals could get Muggle plastic surgery to get rid of curse scars which was what Harry had had done. Gone was his lightning bold scar, the basilisk bite scar and even the scar he got when Wormtail drew his blood at the resurrection.

He was having some of his other scars removed – like the word freak which his uncle had carved into his stomach when he was 8 years old and two others on the small of his back which for some strange reason no one had ever noticed at Hogwarts even when his roommates had caught him in the shower.

Apparently the twinkling trinkets Harry had broken in Dumbledore's office were trackers and there had been monitors placed on the boy. Dobby had snuck back into the office and had stolen them. Then he did the special end-of-year house elf cleaning which was done after all the students left for the year.

Harry had bonded with Winky and another young, little elf named Sammy who had lost his last master and had been freed before the master died so that the elf couldn't be sold to a bad family. Then the three of them hit all the areas where Harry spent most of his time, especially where he had bled. All bits and pieces of his blood and/or any other DNA materials were eradicated.

There was special attention paid to the Infirmary and the Quidditch dressing room. After Hogwarts, Sammy snuck off to the Burrow and sterilized it of Harry's essences. As usual the house was in total disarray and pandemonium reigned so no one noticed the elf especially when he cleaned at night.

He also had another assignment, namely to listen to what was going on at the Burrow and what was being said. He found out a lot of very interesting information. The Goblins had provided the little elf with special listening devices which recorded the things said so that it could be used as evidence.

Dobby, Winky and one Goblin had snuck to Privet Drive, the Goblin to gather evidence and then the elves to sterilize Petunia's house – of Harry's DNA. Winky had never seen a house, especially a Muggle one (not that she had ever seen a Muggle house before, only heard that they had to clean without using magic) that was so pristine. The poor elf had fainted when Harry later told her that the only house elf the Dursleys had was him.

So now there was no way for Dumbledore to rebuild and respell his trackers and monitors on Harry. Harry had not communicated with anybody, or at least anybody that Dumbledore would ever suspect. Harry had even got not one but two new wands while at the clinic.

First he had had the surgery done so was almost unrecognizable were a picture of Harry Potter to be printed on a "missing" poster (or more likely a wanted poster). Then he went to an exclusive master wand crafter who was mostly retired but the Goblins had convinced him to take on one more "special client" and he even gave Harry lessons in caring for his wand(s) (Ollivander only sold booklets), a small history of the craft and two wand holsters.

He had made an extensive examination of Harry's holly and phoenix feather wand. Harry had told him the history of his wand being the brother wand of Voldemort and what had happened at the cemetery. He found some very interesting things about the wand and told Harry.

Now Harry had to write a letter to someone who he really didn't want to write a letter to or ever see or hear about again. But it was only right that he should write the letter. This was one secret that if revealed might change the world.

So today, on Harry's 16th birthday, he would officially be leaving the clinic. His Goblin account manager, Blood Claw, would be settling his bill with the clinic (it would take some time to sue Dumbledore, Snape and the Dursleys to get Harry reimbursed and the clinic always had to be paid up front). Then they were going to a Muggle shopping center so that Harry could purchase of few necessities.

Harry only had the basic minimum of clothing because his body was changing so much. Now, he would only be buying a week's worth of changes as he wasn't sure exactly where he was going to live yet. He could and did buy a lot of underwear and shoes and a good jacket.

The shopping done, Blood Claw dropped Harry off at a respectable, but small ski lodge. Since it was the off season, Harry could spend time relaxing and use it as a place to hide. Harry had been glamoured by the Goblin to look older so it wouldn't look strange that some kid was staying at a hotel by himself.

He also came carrying a laptop and several briefcases saying he was coming to the hotel to catch up on some necessary work without being constantly interrupted like he was at home and his office. This was a good excuse for him to stick to the confines of his room and have the occasional meal delivered.

He would be having a lot of paperwork spread about as the next day Blood Claw would be bringing him financial statements, news reports and a list of potential places for Harry to live and not be found by the Ministry, Dumbledore or the hordes of reporters who were looking for him.

The past six weeks while being healed, Harry had spent his free time catching up on Muggle studies – the real Muggle studies like his cousin took. As soon as Dudley came home every summer one of the first things he did was to throw his school books in Harry's room. Harry didn't get to do his magical summer homework, but he did do Dudley's. Harry didn't mind as it helped him catch up on the really useful things he didn't get taught at Hogwarts.

This way Harry really learned something, kept up with Muggle things and his fingers and hands couldn't be injured and/or re-injured until he wrote up Dudley's homework. This was how Harry also learned to use the computer because he had to type up all of Dudley's work and do research at the same time. Naturally Harry was forbidden (on pain of….well of receiving even more serious pain then usual) touching Dudley's computer games, but he didn't care. He was learning things he wanted to learn.

Hermione would never have believed that Harry was reading, studying and doing serious homework, because well " _he didn't do his summer homework and usually left it to the last minute"_ once he was sprung from the Dursleys. But she got to chastise him further and to be even smugger in her belief that she was smarter, worked harder, liked to learn and was a conscientious and model student.

She never believed that Harry was because he never had his homework even started whereas she usually had all of her homework done within the first few days she was home. The main reason Harry didn't have his magical homework done or even started was due to the fact that the Dursleys kept his schoolbooks locked and/or Harry had to do Dudley's homework first as well as all the other heavy, backbreaking, overload of chores the Dursleys demanded of him.

But she didn't know any of that and it seemed to Harry she didn't care but had formed her opinion of what he had or had not been doing and that he was acting just like Ron.

The first thing Harry did after he checked in and Blood Claw left was to summon Dobby. Dobby brought a small trunk which he immediately enlarged. The trunk contained Harry's supply of nutrient potions as well as the other vile things he had to take for the next year or so. It also had his magical books and other miscellany.

Harry informed Dobby that he would be having a good soak in the bath which should take about a half an hour. By that time he hoped that Dobby would have brought a good meal and the latest magical newspapers for Harry to read and catch up with the news. Exactly one half hour later, Harry came out of the bath, his new plush bathrobe wrapped around his still slight frame and turning on the Muggle television, he sat down to a totally awesome meal.

At the clinic he had been on a strict healthy diet regimen. It was necessary because of all the potions and medications he was taking and to get his abused stomach up to standard. But now before him as a large plate containing several slices of thick cut medium rare roast beef with a few Yorkie puds on the side, some lightly cooked sprouts (he needed his greens after all), a tossed salad of mixed greens sprinkled with goat cheese, raisons, dried cranberries and slivered almonds and a large slice of apple pie with a small glass of cream to pour on the dessert. A good British dinner (except for the healthy salad) and Harry immediately summoned the elf to lavish praise on him.

After finishing his meal, Dobby cleaned off the table and Harry started reading the newspapers. It was enough to give Harry indigestion. His name was still being bandied about in the newspapers. Most of it was speculation, a lot of it was slander and all of it wondered where he was. One of the things which Andromeda was doing (or at least supposed to be doing) was stopping the slander, but it was evident that it was still going on. He wondered why.

After reading the papers he put them in his trunk, brushed his teeth, did a few small exercises and crashed in bed falling asleep listening to the Muggle news.

Harry took breakfast in the hotel dining room then went back to his room for his meeting with Blood Claw. The first question he asked when the Goblin arrived was "Why hasn't anything been done about the slander?"

"Ah," said the Goblin, "Lawyer Tonks said you would probably ask that. The reason the slander has not been stopped is because Dumbledore has spent the past six weeks fighting your emancipation. Even the revelation of the Dark Lord's return and all the things which must be done as soon as possible to fight him has been put on hold due to his trying to get you back under his control. He has been completely ruthless in this pursuit and the Wizengamot, the Ministry and even the ICW have been in a constant uproar."

"I gather he is increasing the slander in order to discredit me and prove that I am incapable of running my own life, that Voldie and his DEs are going to _**'get me'**_ and only he, the Great Albus Dumbledore can protect me and guide me to whatever it is he thinks I need to be guided to?"

"Exactly. Mrs. Tonks is having a lot of problems despite the help of the Goblins, Amelia Bones and, surprisingly, Cornelius Fudge."

Harry sighed heavily before asking, "Dobby only brought me the papers for the past two days, no doubt because he didn't want to upset me."

"Once again you are correct."

"Let me guess. My 'friends' have been agreeing with everything Dumbledore has been saying, the teachers are backing him up and several 'unidentified' students at school have been dragging my name through mud, hippogriff dung, basilisk venom and the blood of murdered babies."

"May I congratulate you on your grasp of the situation? That is exactly what has been happening. Even your Muggle relatives have been interviewed. You really don't want to know what they have been saying about you."

Harry froze slightly before saying, "Are you telling me," he said slowly between gritting teeth, "that my relatives have actually exposed themselves and their location to the Magical World on the orders of Dumbledore to trash me? I know they are the stupidest people to walk the earth but don't they realize that Voldie will go after them?"

"Yes, they have revealed themselves, but Dumbledore now has them under protective custody so that they cannot be harmed."

Harry had to laugh at that, "The Dursleys under the 'protective custody of wizards' – that's almost worth coming out of hiding to see. Not that I would."

Harry was quiet for a moment before asking, "There is still no legal way that Dumbledore can reverse my emancipation, get hold of my money and get me back under his control even with him using all of his clout in Britain and Europe since he's using the ICW?"

" _ **No legal way**_. Even the ICW has had enough of his manipulations. We Goblins, Mrs. Tonks, Amelia Bones and Fudge are fighting tooth and nail. The poor Tonkses have basically lost their daughter."

"She didn't quit the Order?"

"Yes she did at first. However, about a week later she 'rejoined' the Order, no doubt thinking, or more likely been convinced by Dumbledore, that she could get around the requirements and still retain her dowry.

Before she rejoined the Order, she came into the bank and withdrew all of the money she inherited and closed her account. Unfortunately for her, the money had been spelled, as per the requirements of the Will, so her dowry magically reverted back to the main Black vault once she rejoined the Order."

"Amelia Bones then fired her from the Aurors as she belonged to an organization which was in direct opposition to the Ministry. The foolish girl had been warned. Now she has been cast out of the House of Black, has lost her dowry as well as her job. According to the rules of the House of Black she can never again be taken back into the House and when her mother dies she cannot inherit any money from her mother's estate which came from the House of Black."

"In other words, she became another patsy screwed over by Dumbledore."

"Pure and simple, yes, but enough about the unfortunate Miss Tonks. For once Dumbledore will not be getting what he wants UNLESS he manages to find you and spell you to _**'voluntarily'**_ renounce your emancipation and give him total and complete control over you, your life and your wealth."

"So we just don't let that happen now do we," grinned Harry. "Let's find me a place to live."

After Harry made his decision, Bloodspiller suggested a possible way for Dumbledore not to succeed in getting control of Harry if he was ever caught. The first thing was for Harry to make an irrevocable, ironclad Will evoking the laws of both House Black and House Potter. They started working on a draft and made a tentative list of things Harry wanted.

Once the Goblins and Andromeda looked it over, it would be drawn up as quickly as possible, signed by Harry and filed of record with Gringotts and the Ministry. It existence would not be made public until such time as it was needed, namely Harry's death or capture by Dumbledore.

Harry wanted it said that under no circumstances whatsoever would Harry James Potter, hereinafter known as the Lord Black and the Lord Potter ever voluntarily reverse his lordships, emancipations especially giving control of his life, well-being, possessions and wealth over to anyone and most especially Albus Dumbledore or any members who had been, were currently or ever would be members of the Order of the Phoenix or any person or persons who owed loyalty, fealty or obedience to said Albus Dumbledore. If such a thing were ever to occur if was done illegally, under duress, curses, hexes, spells, etc.

Then the Will would further say that nothing which Albus Dumbledore had done in the name of Harry James Potter had ever been legal, requested in the Last Will and Testament of James Charlus or Lily Rose Potter (nee Evans) as their Will had been unlawfully sealed by Albus Dumbledore who had no legal right to act in such a manner, etc.

It would further state that Harry had never and would never bequeath any property, money or anything at all to any members of House Weasley, Hermione Granger and several other persons. No one who was a marked Death Eater or an acknowledged sympathizer would forever be banned from even making a claim to Harry's estate.

Harry would be making some bequests to certain charities such as St. Mungo's and two other charities which had been certified by the Goblins as totally legitimate and not under the control of the Ministry or Dumbledore in any way, shape or form.

At the moment Harry had no heirs and with the exception of the Dursleys, no known relatives, especially magical ones. There was no way in hell that Harry would leave anything to the Dursleys other than for arranging for somebody to deliver daily stinging hexes to all three. Bloodspiller informed Harry that he really shouldn't put something like that in a Will no matter how tempting.

Therefore the bulk of his wealth would revert to the conditions laid down by his grandfather Charlus. It saddened Harry that he didn't have anyone – anyone at all – to whom he could leave his wealth to other than a few charities. No relatives and unfortunately no friends.

It was then Bloodspiller told Harry about a heritage test. They were mostly outlawed in Britain due to Purebloods trying to prevent a Muggleborn from finding out if they were really related to a Squib and therefore might be able to demand a share of an inheritance and/or a higher status in Magical Britain.

They were also hideously expensive – in Britain. Therefore Bloodspiller would arrange to take Harry to another Gringotts branch and have the test performed. It would be nice to know if Harry had a relative even in the Muggle world.

Of course, since he was related to the Blacks through his paternal grandmother Dorea, he was related to Draco Malfoy and the very foolish Nymphadora Tonks. That was a real pity because in the short time he had known her, he had grown very fond of the clumsy Auror, but she had chosen her side and it wasn't his. She also broke her parents' hearts due to her misplaced loyalty to Dumbledore and that he couldn't forgive.

After Bloodspiller left, Harry once again ate in the hotel's dining room as he couldn't have Dobby provide all his food as the hotel personnel would become suspicious. He hadn't left the maid into his room to clean due to his meeting with Bloodspiller and that would also cause suspicion. He'd have to "leave" for an appointment tomorrow so the maid could do the room so that meant he would have to shrink his trunk after he hid his magical paperwork in it.

The next day he left the hotel for an appointment and after finding an empty alleyway, port keyed to the Gringotts branch where he was meeting Bloodspiller. He looked over the rough draft of the Will before taking the heritage test. He didn't bother looking at it at the bank as he wanted to do it in private. Arrangements would be made for his transportation to the place where he would be moving to.

Bloodspiller would have Andromeda at this branch no later than the day after tomorrow so that she could review the Will, suggest any changes and hopefully the Will could be put in final form, signed by Harry and filed of record. Then hopefully Harry could leave the next day and start his new life far away from Britain and free from Dumbledores, false friends, dreadful relatives, a fickle public and Dark Lords trying to kill him.

Some people would call Harry a coward, but those people didn't know the life he had truly led, the abuse he had suffered and the manipulations of one Albus Dumbledore which had ruined his short life. Of course, those people would be Dumbledore, his teachers, the Order members and his false friends. They could all go to hell and hopefully they'd go there sooner than later.

Yes Harry was bitter, but he had had a right to be. He owed nothing to any individual let alone the magical population of Great Britain. The only people who had ever really tried to help him had been the Goblins, but he knew they were only doing it because they made money. Harry was paying large fees for their help but it was worth it as the Goblins were very efficient, they did things as legally as possible, were very discrete and most importantly, they swore on their honor to provide these services and protect their client.

They also got to annoy wizards, especially pain-in-the-ass types like Dumbledore who was always trying to put one over on them either through his grandfatherly, Leader of the Light, Mr. Hero Wizard personas or, when that failed as it always did, through his many important political positions. Sometimes he won those rounds but not without a fight. It usually caused the Goblins to lose money as the Wizengamot would tie things up in court and prevent the Goblins from doing their job.

Thus, the Black estate was frozen once Walburga died and money could not be reinvested because they didn't have access to Sirius Black while he was in Azkaban due to Ministry interference. The Malfoys had been trying to claim the Black estate for years even going so far as to sue the Goblins. It wasn't until the Goblins retaliated by freezing all the Malfoy accounts – which they had every right to do - that the legal nonsense stopped.

But the Goblins lost money because of the illegal incarceration, Ministry and Malfoy interference and Dumbledore trying to oversee the estate because he was the self-appointed magical guardian of Harry Potter and the boy was Sirius' legal heir.

Goblins were noted for their thirst for revenge and helping Harry Potter every step of the way helped them to get it. But they still got to charge the boy huge fees for their services so they were doubly happy.

Harry went back to his hotel room after another long day. The room was clean and since it was feasible that he ate his dinner out, once he got to his room he called for Dobby and requested a nice dinner after he had his nightly soak.

It was after his bath, dinner and watching a bit of TV that he remembered the heritage test. He was almost afraid to look at it. But it was either look at the test or write the letter which he didn't want to or knew how to write, so he opened the test and read the contents.

He wished he had written and sent the letter first.


	5. Chapter 5 - Writing Several Letters

J K Rowling owns all the rights to the books and the amazing characters she created. I write only to satisfy my imagination and use my creativity and make no money from my writings.

Chapter 5 – Writing Several Letters

Harry couldn't tell anybody, not even the Goblins, about the contents of the heritage test. He did have to write several letters if only to save the lives of two of his new found relatives. He would have to get the Goblins to help but could not tell them why. He would have to make at least one alteration to his Will concerning one of his relatives. He also needed to find a Muggle photocopier and see if it could copy a magical document.

Damn, why did he have to take that test? Why couldn't he leave well enough alone and accept he was alone? Why did he dare to have hope when he knew that nothing would turn out beneficial for him or anybody if they were related to him?

He called for Dobby and asked the elf to bring him a bottle of mild red wine and a glass. Dobby sensed that something was very wrong and Harry noticed and jokingly said to the elf, "It's only wine Dobby. At least it is not fire whiskey or Muggle vodka and this will be a one-time only event due to shock. Please don't judge me and get me the wine – and probably a hangover potion if I drink the entire bottle."

Being a good elf Dobby obeyed. Harry then requested Dobby to get an immediate appointment with Blood Claw and a port key to the bank where they drafted the Will. "Tell Blood Claw Andromeda can't know about it yet or even know I am at the bank. She can still work on the Will but know that another bequest or two is going to be added. Say it is a charity I am considering. But tell Blood Claw he can't reveal anything to Andromeda yet."

The next day Harry as he had sensibly stopped at two glasses didn't need the potion after all, met secretly with Blood Claw. He didn't show the Goblin the test, he merely informed him that yes, he did have relatives he didn't know about and who if nothing else, needed protection since they were just as marked as he was and if Voldemort ever found out Harry couldn't live with himself.

He requested that Blood Claw somehow, someway get Luna Lovegood and her father at this bank as soon as possible. No one could know they were coming, especially Andromeda.

"They might be off looking for some magical creature so you might have a hard time finding them but I don't think it would be safe if you asked their friends and/or neighbors their whereabouts. Luna was one of the Ministry Six and that would set off an alarm for Dumbledore to stick his big nose in.

Maybe they withdrew money from their vault from another Gringotts branch, like one in Sweden so you could track them there. Please make doubly sure they aren't under any spells and especially tracers. If they have been spelled, please remove them immediately."

"Also make sure they didn't give any oaths to tell anybody if I should contact Luna for any reason as that would be another Dumbledore tactic. In any event, nothing can be traced back to me. I'll pay to 'free them' from any spells, so please do a very thorough check."

"As to my other 'relative' I know we are going to have a problem. I will have to meet her parents and talk to them first. After all, it is through her mother that she is my relative. Again, make sure her parents aren't spelled. I think the only way I can save her is for her parents to be made completely aware of all of the dangers they are all in and everything concerning Dumbledore and his control issues. If we can make her parents understand, then we can get her and…"

With this Harry struggled. There was only one way to save his cousin and that was to obliviate her of all knowledge about him, Dumbledore, the Weasleys and the Order. Her parents could say that a war started, she was seriously injured in an attack and to save her life as well as theirs, they immigrated. Her memory was fuzzy and confused because of the physical trauma she had suffered and the apparent horror she had witnessed.

Unfortunately, the more he thought about it the more he might have to take more drastic steps and obliviate her parents as well. They would definitely not like what they would have to be told not only about their daughter's experience at Hogwarts but also the real heritage of mother and daughter.

If nothing else, Harry had found a very good use for his money – savings the lives of his new found relatives and getting them away from Albus Dumbledore and protecting them from Voldemort.


	6. Chapter 6 - Disappearances

J K Rowling owns all the rights to the books and the amazing characters she created. I write only to satisfy my imagination and use my creativity and make no money from my writings.

Chapter 6 – Disappearances

Amelia Bones had a massive headache and it was only 9:22 a.m. She was used to such headaches ever since the "Potter problem" began. Despite all of the proof about Harry's mistreatment and Dumble's handling of it, the old coot "had had his reasons" for doing what he did.

Apparently, a few days before his death, James Potter brought his invisibility cloak to Dumbles for safekeeping. There wasn't time to change his Will so he had Dumbles swear on his life and magic to certain things that James now wanted done and Dumbles COULD NOT TELL ANYONE about it.

The real story was that Dumbles secretly summoned James to his office and told him to bring the invisibility cloak so that Dumbles could study it. Since James enjoyed sneaking around he came at 2 a.m. on October 28th (so that Lily wouldn't know that he had snuck out of the house) and gave the cloak to Dumbledore. After taking the cloak from James he handed him a sealed envelope and a separate piece of parchment and asked James to have the wily old wizard swear an oath that he would follow the directions contained therein.

James asked why and what was in the envelope. As usual, Dumbles only said "Just trust me James as it is for the Greater Good" and since James did trust his "mentor" he read the oath that Dumbles was supposed to swear and then left without any questions.

The sneaky, manipulative old coot KNEW that Pettigrew was now the secret keeper and that Voldie would be paying a visit to the Potters on Samhein. The contents of the letter which no one would ever see other than Dumbles who wrote it, contained several things which Dumbles was planning to do and since James had sworn him to secrecy, Dumbles broadly hinted that all of the dreadful things he had done to the boy was at the request of James Potter.

In other words, Dumbles was following James Potter's requests despite not liking some of the things he now was obliged to do concerning Harry. He wore his saddest face and although some people believed him, others, like Amelia, Andromeda, the Goblin representative, and even Fudge, didn't believe him for a moment. But since he was under the effects of Veritaserum and had sworn on oath on his life and magic to James, he was acquitted.

He was now demanding that Harry's "mischief" be revoked, that he went back to the Dursleys (who Dumbles would have a serious talk with) and that Dumbledore would once again be his magical guardian until such time as Dumbles thought the boy was ready for the responsibilities he would have. Again he hinted that "James would have wanted it since he asked me to use the Potter vote and manage some of his finances and he thought Harry would be the same."

Of course he said this when he was not under the influence of Veritaserum, but anyone who knew James Potter knew that he didn't want to be bothered with the Wizengamot, voting and all of the boring things which a Lord Potter would be responsible for, even financial management of the great wealth the Potters possessed. He had let Dumbledore "handle things" for him so that he could devote himself to the war effort by becoming an Auror. Before Harry had come to Hogwarts it was very well-known (due to Dumbledore's publicity machine) that he was not only the very physical image of James but had the same characteristics and outlook on life.

"Since Harry has just shown how irresponsible he is by running away from our protection, causing trouble to many people and is no doubt now lavishly spending – and wasting – the Potter fortune, the most pressing problem is that Voldemort is back and after Harry. I must guide him and protect him from not only Voldemort but Harry's own foolishness."

After several days of "negotiations" – meaning Dumbledore wanted HIS WAY and wouldn't listen to anybody else (especially Harry), despite all of his political power, followers and manipulations, Harry's manumission would not be revoked and only he could decide if he wanted "Dumbledore's guidance and protection."

Dumbledore then demanded to see and have a heart-to-heart (but logical, in his opinion) talk with the "dear boy" (in private) but Andromeda told him that Harry didn't want to see or talk to Dumbledore. Dumbledore refused to believe her or anybody else. He needed (and would) speak to Harry or else!

"Or else what?" Andromeda asked.

Dumbles smiled a rather oily smile and told the lawyer "Oh he'll know what I mean. It involves a certain spell he cast on Bellatrix Lestrange. I have been hiding the sad truth from the public, press and legal divisions, which I am certain he will definitely speak to me…or I shall have no course but to expose him."

As Dumbledore was smiling like a shark, Andromeda knew exactly what he meant – the Cruciatus which he had tried, but failed, to cast on Bellatrix. That he had TRIED to cast it would get him sent to Azkaban. Now it was her turn to smile like a shark - with buck teeth - when she whispered so that only the "great Light wizard" would hear.

"If you mean that certain 'forbidden spell' _**he attempted to cast**_ in the Ministry Atrium" she purred "I will present as evidence a copy of the very thorough medical history done on Harry by the Goblins, the Chief Healer of St. Mungo's and the healer from Child Services. Each history shows every little bit of magic cast on the boy or which he received via potion, but most especially who did the casting."

Dumbles didn't bat an eye so Andromeda was obliged to refresh his memory.

"Your magical signature was found on 85% of the magic, with the remaining 15% consisting of hexes, curses, charms, etc. which he has been subject to by school mates, Death Eaters, including the one impersonating Moody who cast the Imperius on him and _other students_ as a lesson in Defense classes. Everything is carefully documented but most especially the ones YOU cast on him to be reckless, temperamental, neglect his studies and all of those loyalty charms directed to you and the Weasleys. Personally I think the obliviations you cast on him as well as the massive feelings of guilt for being responsible for anything bad for just about everything except the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941 and then the suicide prevention charms so that he wouldn't off himself without your permission."

That said, she simply walked away from the old coot leaving him to try to control the massive temper tantrum he wanted/needed to have, but couldn't do in public. He consoled himself with the thought that he would GET Harry when he returned to Hogwarts. However, if he didn't return to complete his Hogwarts education, there were always his friends to use as well as Amelia Bones' niece Susan. He wouldn't hesitate to use her as a bargaining chip to force Amelia's assistance.

He then went back to his office to plan and put into action certain things at Hogwarts to further his manipulations. The foolish boy had only temporarily escaped him and would be punished more than he could imagine.

However, Dumbledore was in for some very nasty surprises when he returned to his lair as several unpleasant situations (and people) awaited him.

Bill Weasley had disappeared. His flat was emptied of his possessions and notice was sent to the landlord that he wasn't going to be renting the flat. Arthur Weasley checked with Gringotts only to hear that Bill had been fired and the contents of his vault were seized in reparation (the Goblins didn't say why) and the vault closed.

A very frantic father contacted Percy to help find his brother, but Percy couldn't or wouldn't help. He had gone to the Order for assistance only to find out that Dumbles wouldn't waste the Order's time looking for Bill when there were so many much more important things to do. Tonks said she would help since she was currently unemployed, when Dumbles didn't need her services. For the moment all she could do was to give Arthur a list of Bill's friends she knew about, but at least it was something.

Poor Tonks was not only unemployed but homeless. Although a full-fledged Auror, she wouldn't get a substantial pay raise until a year had passed and she was rated. Like Bill, she could no longer afford her flat and had to move out. Order Headquarters was out of the question as with Sirius' death, it closed until the new Lord Black (Harry) took over and changed the wards. He changed the wards but wouldn't allow the Order in and now had his own Fidelius on the house.

In desperation she asked Dumbledore if she could live at Hogwarts since she was an unpaid worker for the Order. However, Dumbledore had a better idea, namely, to go back into the care of her parents and spy on her mother and thus Harry, since her mummy was the head of Harry's legal team.

Unfortunately, her own mother (and even her father) refused her asylum because Andromeda recognized a Dumbledore manipulation when she saw one.

"You KNEW that you could not give your 'dowry money' to Dumbledore or the Order on pain of losing it. But that #($#$ #&* &( $## talked you into doing it anyway and now you are again disowned from the House of Black and penniless and I can't give you any money without losing everything myself."

"Besides" her mum continued "Dumbledore wants you to spy on me and try to get access to Harry to 'convince him' to go back into Dumbles' clutches – hasn't he?"

"Well…" was the only thing Tonks could say until she hung her head in shame.

"That was one of the reasons I had you turn over your wand to your dad so that you couldn't 'convince me' to let you live here. As the head of Harry's legal team, having you live here would conflict with my representation of him."

"Are you disowning me – your only child?" Tonks asked as tears started falling.

Andromeda sighed and said "Yes and no. You will always be my daughter but you have made your choice by following Dumbledore and being fooled by his lies. I will give you a copy of Harry's medical and magical history so you can see what Dumbles did to the boy and as an Auror I am certain you know what went on at the 'hearing' as it was an open and shut case."

"What your mum is trying to say" Ted Tonks added "Is that you are not the first nor will you be the last to be ruined by the so-called Leader of the Light. You gave your all to him and have lost everything you worked for and you are working for the Order – unpaid, no doubt – and asked if you could live at Hogwarts. But he said no didn't he? He sent you here to spy on your mum and get to Harry, didn't he?"

She said nothing but it was the answer they knew she would give if she had replied to their question. She started crying in earnest and was very upset when neither parent came over to hug and comfort her. About five minutes later, her dad did come near her, after giving his wand and his daughter's wand to Andromeda to hold because he didn't trust his own daughter not to grab a wand and "convince them" as per Dumbles' instructions. They knew the #* #&& too well to put it passed him to compel Tonks to betray her own parents if "It was necessary for the Greater Good" as he said for anything he wanted people to do when it went against their conscious.

"Baby" Ted began tenderly putting his hand on Tonks' shoulder "Your mother can't give you anything without violating her oath to House Black and her professional oath as a lawyer. However, I have some money of my own which is separate from your mother. I will give it to you but only on the following conditions: (1) Dumbledore doesn't get his hands on it; (2) you quit the Order of the Phoenix; (3) you temporarily leave the Magical World and I will find you a job in the Muggle World; and (4) YOU GIVE ME A SOLEMN OATH TO THAT EFFECT."

She looked at her father with a bit of hope in her eyes. Everything both her parents had said about Dumbledore was true and she was fed up with his plans, his orders, the Order, the Sirius was treated and now the loss of her career.

She gratefully took her father's offer, swore the oath he wanted and didn't bother to report back to Dumbledore. She was through with him and all that he stood for. She was going to the Muggles to start a new life.

Minerva McGonagall was worried. She hadn't received responses from several students, among those being Hermione Granger. Personally, she knew that Harry Potter wouldn't set foot in Hogwarts as long as Dumbledore ruled there although the Headmaster was positive that Harry would be there on September 1st. He didn't care if half the school was empty, only that Harry was back in his clutches.

Due to a law he had personally written and had passed, any magical child born in Britain as of January 1, 1978 HAD TO ATTEND HOGWARTS or have their magic bound. If the child's family had moved from Britain it didn't matter as the child had to return to Britain to attend Hogwarts and their parents/guardian would be severely fined if they tried to evade this law "to save the magical population of Britain" as it had been written. They could even lose custody and access to their child(ren)

Ordinarily, Hermione's holiday would have been interrupted such as it was last year when she had been forced to leave her parents early and take up residence at Grimmauld Place. Since that wasn't possible this year and Harry had fled, the only place she could go was to the Weasleys, but since Harry wasn't available, Molly refused to let the girl come to her house as "Nobody really likes her and she is more trouble than she is worth."

But McGonagall hadn't heard from the girl and she did not respond to the yearly Hogwarts letter. Since she was so conscientious (and obedient to all of Dumbles' commands), McGonagall decided to visit the girl.

She arrived at the Granger home to find that it was shut up tightly. A neighbor said all three Grangers had left for parts unknown and had their business covered by other dentists. She went to the dental practice and the staff said the Grangers hadn't said anything only that they were having a leave of absence and didn't know when, or if, they would return.

She found out who their legal representative was and went to his office but he could not tell her very much either. "All they said was that they were leaving for a while, the practice was taken care of by other dentists, the house was shut up and I am to check on it at least once a month. They made arrangements with their bank to use funds from their personal account to pay taxes, rates and for a landscaper for lawn care and snow removal when necessary. From what Matt Granger told me, he had already contacted his sister and her family and just told her what he told everyone else" the lawyer informed her.

"But surely someone must know where they have gone" McGonagall asked. "Are you positive they weren't…kidnapped…or some other dreadful thing occurred? Miss Granger attends our school in Scotland and didn't bother to send a letter stating she wasn't attending this year. She is a very conscientious girl and I find it difficult to believe…."

The lawyer interrupted her and politely replied that she now knew all he knew and that was that. The only other thing he told her was that the automatic payment for her school fees had been cancelled.

She left the office in a state of shock. Now she was very worried about one of her favorite students. It was then she decided to check on the other students who hadn't replied only to discover that the Creeveys had moved leaving no forwarding address and so had the Thomas Family. The Finch-Fletchleys had been posted overseas and since Mr. Finch-Fletchley worked for the government in a "special unit" not even their servants knew where they were or when they were returning.

The next day she went to some of the other students' homes and found out that all had "suddenly moved" without leaving a forwarding address. Most of them were Muggleborns, but there were a few Half-bloods and even a few Purebloods like Luna Lovegood and the odd (very odd) Slytherin. She didn't bother checking on the Slytherins as she assumed they were doing things for Voldemort. She hoped they wouldn't be returning to Hogwarts.

The two youngest Weasleys were returning BUT, Molly had stormed into Minerva's office (since Dumbledore wouldn't see her) questioning why their tuition hadn't been paid.

"I believe that Harry's trust vault paid for their tuition – without his knowledge" she replied. "Since he now controls all of his finances, that vault has been closed for use by others including Dumbledore and certain others. Therefore, you will have to pay the fees yourself or apply for the charity fund."

"We Weasleys have never, ever used that so-called charity and I don't intend to do so now. I blame Albus for this so he should pay the fees."

"Good luck getting personal money from Albus" McGonagall stated. "Didn't your Aunt Muriel pay Percy's fees?"

"Well…yes…but she would only pay for Percy as she liked him. She refuses to pay for Ron, who she doesn't like or even Ginny. We managed to pay for Bill and Charlie and they helped out with the Twins until…."

"Until 1991 when Harry made friends with your family" Minnie replied. "I don't care where you get the money but either you pay it or go on the charity fund. Luckily for you, there are a few vacancies now so you stand a chance to finance Ron and Ginny."

A sudden thought occurred to the Deputy Head "If you paid for Bill and Charlie, why can't you pay for Ron and Ginny?"

Molly didn't answer, she just huffed and puffed and left the office.

Now Minnie McGonagall had a headache like the ones Amelia Bones was getting. While she was glad that Harry and fled, got his money and was safely behind a non-Dumbledore-cast Fidelius, his absence was causing a lot of trouble.

She had accidentally found out that Harry was "generously funding the tuitions of many students even before he came to Hogwarts. Although she had no access to the other special vault Dumbledore maintained for all of the monetary gifts and inheritances that Harry received for saving them from Tom, after the latest revelations, she would not be surprised if that vault was under Dumbledore's name or one of his other "charities" such as the funding of the Order and all of those expensive potion ingredients purchased for "Hogwarts' use and experimentations" as the money had to come from somewhere.

She was still glad that Harry had escaped, she just wished he had taken her with him.


	7. Chapter 7 - Surprises

J K Rowling owns all the rights to the books and the amazing characters she created. I write only to satisfy my imagination and use my creativity and make no money from my writings.

Chapter 7 – Surprises

Andromeda Tonks knew something was up when she was told that the Will was temporarily on hold as Harry had some research to do. Ragnok wasn't forthcoming to any of her questions, saying only the Will would be changed as some new information was revealed.

"When can I see Harry?" she asked, being worried that someone had gotten to him and "convinced" him to return to the pawn that he had been.

"He knew you would be concerned for the delay but I swear to you he has not been compromised. He will meet with you two days from now in one of our Continental branches in a secured room to put the finishing touches on the Will and to get your advice on certain matters."

She was not happy, but had to trust Ragnok as he knew where Harry was and she didn't for reasons of safety. But she had to have some news so asked "How is his recovery going? Has he had the Muggle and Magical surgery the healers suggested?"

"Yes he has but it will take some time before he is completely healed and he will never be as healthy and magically powerful as he would have been due to the Dursleys' 'care' and Dumbledamnit's manipulations. We both have to wait until the meeting to see the results but I have heard he is nearly unrecognizable."

"One thing he has done was to purchase a new home – not in Britain – and has decided to sell some property he has inherited. Apparently he is worried that Dumbledamnit will be able to trace and trap him if he inhabits one of the Potter properties. I do not know where it is located but several house elves have been purchased to ready the house and grounds as it has been empty for a long time due to the owners' deaths. He is currently shopping for furnishings and the like and being assisted by an unnamed entity."

Unknown to Ragnok, the unnamed entity was none other than Luna Lovegood who had been easily found by Harry's searchers because she _**sensed**_ that he was looking for her. Apparently, Lily had been Petunia's half-sister (same father, different mothers) and Lily had had three aunts, two of which had children. Luna was the daughter of Lily's cousin Pandora, thus making Harry and Luna cousins.

Luna and her father moved into the Manor which Harry had named Melody Manor at Luna's suggestion. Luna knew how to play the harp and drums (go figure) and she highly recommended to Harry that he should have music lessons as "it will do you good" so he was purchasing a baby grand piano and a few other instruments he wanted to learn to play.

During his stay at the clinic, he heard that in most places other than Britain, it was possible to have a room or two wired for electricity and the runes to make it work were installed on the TV, VCR or computer, etc. to make them work. Also, there were special landline telephones to be had as well as mobile phones that worked in a magical environment when the proper runes were applied.

This was going to be a Magical/Muggle household, free of prejudice, bullying and abuse of any kind…just as long as one obeyed the rules. For the environment that was to be a peaceful, safe and structured for learning of any kind and fulfilling one's full potential, rules had to be made, oaths sworn and anyone who strayed from the rules would be obliviated of all knowledge concerning Harry, and the Manor and those who also lived there and then sent away. If was only fair for the utopia Harry was creating that no "snake" – and that didn't mean a Slytherin – would be allowed to disrupt this Eden.

Dobby was Harry's Head Elf/valet and Winky was the Housekeeper. Sammy would be the valet for any other males, was the main messenger and would share secretarial duties with Luna. Addy, a young but very talented elf, was the cook and totally in charge of the kitchen and ordering supplies, making a list which would then be given to Winky for approval. Henny was also a young elf that would help Addy in the kitchen and be in charge of the general cleaning and laundry/ironing. Rurry was an older male elf who had vast experience with landscaping, gardening and care of the few animals such as chickens, cows, etc. which Harry would be purchasing. Rorry was his son and apprentice.

Hermione would have a conniption knowing Harry had SEVEN house elves, but too bad! He would never harm them, allow them to punish themselves for real or imagined mistakes, keep them healthy and happy, give them a half day off every week and a galleon per week also. Therefore, they were servants, not slaves, and Harry would also say to Hermione "We can learn so much from them."

If Hermione didn't like it, then she could clean out the barns and poultry houses, clean all of the bathrooms and her room and anything else Harry thought of. From what Hermione had said, she had to keep her room neat, help with the washing up of the kitchen things but not much else. In an emergency, she did some dusting and vacuuming and she knew how to do the laundry but was only responsible for her own.

Once a week a char woman came in to do the main cleaning and twice a year a cleaning agency was called in to do the heavy seasonal cleaning. The Grangers had a landscaper who mowed the lawn, trimmed the hedges and trees and in the winter, shoveled snow. The Grangers were professional people and their time was worth more than doing mundane chores. They only did the basics, although Mrs. Granger had a flower garden which she took care of and was her pride and joy.

Harry had been shocked to discover that Emma Granger was his youngest aunt. From the detailed information provided, she was born to Harry's grandparents, had magic but lost it due to a very dark ceremony performed by Albus Dumbledore! Apparently, Dumbledore knew that "Evelyn Rowena" was a descendent of one of the Founders, and was born around the time that Dumbledore had (finally in his opinion) become Headmaster of Hogwarts.

The fiend had found an ancient ceremony geared to Hogwarts that anyone who was a descendent of a Founder could use a special spell to strengthen the wards and his/her personal control over the school. Wanting as much control and power as possible over Hogwarts, he only knew of one ancestor of a Founder who was married and his wife just had a new baby. He couldn't go anywhere near that couple so to circumvent being accused of kidnapping, he compelled the newborn's maternal grandmother to offer to babysit the new child and give her daughter a much needed rest.

The Granny brought the child to Dumbledore for him to "draw out the evil that the baby was born with" but actually used the secret spell. He drained Evelyn of her magic but not her life telling the horrified Granny "She will not ever live in darkness and the sacrifice of her magic was well worth the loss." Granny didn't see it that way.

Granny knew that if she brought back her now sickly grandchild to her parents, the child's father would MURDER HER that is if her daughter didn't do it first. So she went to a healer she knew, explained the situation and the healer took care of things. She went to a Muggle hospital where a couple had just lost their third child to SIDS. As they mourned, the healer substituted Evelyn with the dead child, slightly glamouring her to look like the other girl. Then "a miracle happened" as the baby Emma had started to breathe again. The parents were estatic and grateful and took their child home and raised her with loving care. Eventually, the glamour would fade, but Evelyn had looked enough like the other child so it wasn't noticed as both had been so young when the switch was done.

Meanwhile, the healer and Granny glamoured the dead girl and sadly returned her to her mother with an explanation. Fortunately for them, Daddy was out of the country doing research otherwise he would have done a very extensive exam, found out about the trickery and then….

Thus, Evelyn grew up as Emma and never knew she had been born with magic but was now essentially a Squib. As fate had it, she married Matt Granger, who didn't know that he was a third generation Squib and a descendent of Hector Dagworth-Granger.

Harry had always thought of Hermione as a sister (mostly because he had been spelled that way) and he was happy to find out she was his cousin. Unfortunately, he also found out who their mutual maternal grandparents were and although it explained much, these were people who he would not like to have as relatives. But Hermione would never believe any of it, so she would have to be obliviated of certain things.

Emma Granger was shocked to (1) find out she had been adopted; (2) that she had been born a witch but lost her magic because of Dumbledore; (3) find out who her real mother was; and (4) her only daughter was in danger from Dumbles, Weasleys, Death Eaters and both of Emma's parents.

A representative of Harry Potter (who was apparently her nephew) contacted her and Matt and explained exactly what was going on in the world they let their daughter enter. They were shocked, then horrified and ended with being extremely angry. Fortunately Mrs. Tonks told them that Harry wanted to save them and Hermione from the fate that awaited them. She had even brought a synopsis of what had occurred in the first war and would definitely be reoccurring in the upcoming one.

She helped them arrange for their escape and recommended they grab their daughter as soon as she got off the train and take her to her office, where Hermione would be talked to…or rather knocked out and taken to the Goblins for a health and magical checkup, as would both her parents.

They were placed in a Goblin safe house while Hermione was examined then deprogrammed. Between the obliviations, hexes, charms and totally illegal potions used on their daughter, both parents were furious and thought things couldn't get any worse – until it did. They also were examined and there were a few obliviations and compulsions found on them. However, something had been done to Emma when she was very young and the Goblin healer had never seen anything like it in her long career. She consulted with other Goblins and even took her questions to a healer who she trusted – but made him swear an oath as he was a human - but he was just as baffled as the Goblins.

Since Harry Potter was paying, the Goblins decided to give Emma Granger a heritage test if only to see if she was a Squib and from a family with a magical peculiarity. This occurred before Harry had his test done. Matt found out he was related to Hector Dagwood-Granger (whoever he was) but Emma had a very "interesting" history.

Emma always thought that she was not her parents' natural child. Neither of them had blue eyes but she did. They just told her she never grew out of her blue baby eyes and that it was probably a recessive gene or something. Now she knew why.

Wound Giver – the Goblin assigned to them – had scanned the test before he would hand it over. It looked as if he was having a double take and about to lose his lunch before he spat out "Woodungagaplick" which sounded to Matt like a curse word. It was then Anooskous – the healer – yelled out "Language" (much like Hermione always did) "These might be humans but they are our clients and patients and I will not allow this disrespect and such language."

He then handed it over to the healer who took one look at it and her eyes widened considerably. As the test was as comprehensive as the one Harry got, it told all the gory details. She then handed the test to the humans as she said "At least I found out the reason for the discrepancy in your health."

Anooskous attempted to give them an explanation, but soon found that she wasn't up to it. Ragnok must be contacted and advised of the situation and they would now wait for a decision to be made by Ragnok and Harry Potter.

It was September 1st and despite all of the threats, demands, manipulations and all of his political and magical power, Dumbledore could not get Harry Potter to return to Hogwarts. Several people were also fighting with him, from Goblins, to Amelia Bones and the DMLE, members of the Wizengamot and even the ICW got involved.

He had lost the use of Grimmauld House, funds from Harry's trust vault and Bill Weasley, Nymphadora Tonks, Hermione Granger and Luna Lovegood were all missing.

Fudge still had Lucius and the other Death Eaters captured at the Ministry in Ministry cells pending "investigations and trials (if needed)" as their solicitors were fighting tooth and nail to keep their clients out of Azkaban. Fudge wasn't answering any of Dumbles' calls so the old wizard had Fawkes fetch him directly to his office for a long delayed chat and a lot of "convincing" as only Dumbles could do.

However, the first thing out of Fudge's mouth was "I'm being checked daily for compulsion spells and magic that shouldn't be on me, so I strongly advise you" Fudge said gathering all of his courage, "Not to try anything to get your way or threaten me or mine, as you are in enough trouble."

No one had dared talk to him like that in decades, especially someone the likes of Fudge. But the wily old wizard would not show any emotion except to turn on his twinkle, stating that since "Since you, dear Cornelius, has been avoiding me, I decided to bring you here to check on you…in case someone did try to…."

"I'm fine, Lucius and the others are awaiting a trial, Harry Potter refuses to come back to Hogwarts and I've decided not to run for another term." With that said he grabbed some floo powder and flooed back to his office, as Dumbles had been too shocked to do anything until it was too late.

Lord Voldemort got the shock of his life. An official Gringotts owl flew into Malfoy Manor while Voldie was enjoying breakfast. The owl dropped off a large brown envelope, the kind that Muggles used. As Voldie hadn't received any mail in – hmmm, he forgot how long it had been - especially Muggle mail, his curiosity was aroused. The envelope was address to Mr. T.M. Riddle, c/o Malfoy Manor, Wiltshire, etc., and even had stamps on it.

After checking it for spells and curses, Voldie carefully opened it. He pulled out a copy of what appeared to be a Gringotts heritage test, set it aside and read the letter attached to it. It was a good thing (for him) that he wasn't currently eating or drinking anything otherwise he might have choked to death. The letter was from Harry Potter of all people and the contents was TRAUMATIZING, although very enlightening and explained many puzzling things.

All thoughts about finishing breakfast and – oh hell everything else – was cast aside as Mr. T.M. Riddle absorbed the contents of that letter and then the heritage test.


End file.
